US diplomats alleged YSR was corrupt

YS Rajashekar reddy was enjoying the fruits of his schemes from 2004 to his sudden death five years later, but the allegations kept raising about his mighty corrugations. US consul general David Hopper, then based in Chennai, wrote in a confidential cable newly released by WikiLeaks.

AP CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, who is the leader of the YSR Congress Party has come under the scanner, due to the CBI inquiry, adding salt to the wound the high court has ordered CBI Inquiry on few companies whose number would be around 30 which include big names like Emaar Properties, Ramky Infrastructure and Pennar Aluminum. All the deals which have been in dispute with these companies have swung in his favor as the ruling party was his own father's government.

YSR Reddy led Congress government indulged in an unimaginable level of corruption which defied even "the norm for India." says Hopper, before which the political parties and the corporate companies shared a beneficial relationship in navigating a business climate rife with deep-rooted patronage systems.

The cable dated 22 October 2007, gives the diplomat's frank assessment of allegations of widespread corruption among Andhra Pradesh's ruling elite. He also said that the YSR social programs like irrigation and building houses for the poor which were led by Reddy were in favor of his own preference, slyness, bestiality. The diplomat puts the cost of Reddy's ambitious Rajiv Swagruha Programme aimed at building 16 lakh low-cost houses in the state at $4 billion to $6 billion. The 26 new irrigation projects he envisaged were expected to cost the state nearly $11 billion.

"There is consensus in Andhra Pradesh that irrigation and housing programs are beset with corruption. On separate visits to Hyderabad, we heard allegations of widespread graft from several neutral observers," said Hopper’s cable. "An economist, who is studying the effectiveness of the state government's programs, said with only four to five companies executing the projects through numerous subcontractors and little oversight, there are many opportunities for graft in the irrigation schemes." The US cable also pointed out that the chief minister and his party took a bigger cut from promoters wanting to put up multi-crore projects in the state. "Typically, 5 to 7 percent is lost to corruption, but in Reddy's irrigation program that figure is more than 15 to 20 percent," said the cable. "The sheer size of Reddy's signature programs, with literally billions of dollars at play every year, leaves much room for 'leakage' to Congress party officials and their allies."We thought Naidu was bad, but that was child's play compared with what is happening now.”

Hopper told his bosses in the US state department that widespread corruption in the Congress government seemed to be an "open secret" in Andhra Pradesh.

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